This invention concerns an audio production console.
Traditionally, sound recording was based on a combination of excellence of microphone placement techniques used to capture performances, and faithful registration on tape of the signals received. Nowadays, however, many recordings are principally assembled from a wide range of exactly-repeatable signals produced from a variety of non-performing programmable machinery such as synthesizers, sampling devices, and digital sound effects units.
The traditional technique was a two-stage process of recording signals onto multitrack tape and then remixing to stereo, adding sound effects processing during mixdown. Effectively, the final result was obtained only towards the end of the recording process. Consoles incorporated elaborate monitoring facilities which constituted a `mixer within the mixer`, allowing submixes to be created to guide the engineer and the musicians as the tracks were filled. Once the tape was full, the monitor mix was largely forgotten and the `real` mixing began. Developments in computer techniques allowed a degree of mixing to precede and assist the actual mixdown process.
In recent times, four main tendencies have become apparent in the studio, namely the use of a larger number of tracks -- 48 and heading for 64; the use of synthesizers and drum machines with multiple outputs; the use of very large quantities of external signal processing equipment; and the abandonment of the monitoring system provided with the console as being unsuitable for what might be called `virtual mixing` recording techniques.
The essence of `virtual mixing` is that the producer and engineer attempt to work from the onset with the sounds and sound sources that will be used in the final mix. As the recording process continues the layers of effects increase and must be exactly repeated with each pass of the tape. Overdubs are made not within the context of raw microphone signals replayed from tape but as part of the overall conceptualization of the piece of music, and must be accompanied therefore by the finished product at whatever stage it has reached. The engineer, producer and musicians all need to hear identical signals. The end result is that there is no longer any significant division between the `monitor` mix and the `Stereo` mix. The target has always been the stereo mix and the present-day approach to it is to `mix as you go`, i.e. to create the end product from the commencement of recording.
The addition of more inputs to a console makes it wider and in the past this has lead to ergonomic and operational problems, since the console has become excessively long and unwieldy. Moreover, with the extensive features now required on production consoles, conventional designs have become increasingly complex and confusing owing to the sheer density of controls. Many switch functions are virtually unused from day to day, or are `presets` which when set up are not touched during operation. Furthermore, as the switches are electro-mechanical devices, they inevitably suffer from wear and tear, which decreases reliability.
The introduction of computer-assisted mixing has given the engineer critical control over both levels and mutes, and the use of timecode-based synchronization has allowed memorized events to be repeated in sequence with multiples of audio and video recorders locked together. As mixing is often interrupted by time constraints on studio availability, a need has become apparent to include memorization of control settings in the computer system to allow engineers and producers to return to the point where they had left off at the previous close of work. To date, however, although the development of recall systems for console potentiometer and individual channel configuration has made a step towards repeatability, this is only through relatively slow manual reloading of the memorised position using elaborate graphics-based prompts.
In prior art consoles, inputs were divided into monitory inputs and mixing inputs each associated with an input module. Those modules each carried out functions on a signal received at the corresponding input, such as fading, filtering, etc., controlled by electronic circuits within the module. The activation of those circuits was controlled by switches in the module, normally adjacent the adjustable control for that circuit. Furthermore, each module had a separate monitoring section, for use when the corresponding input was to be a monitoring input.